Thanks to TV sitcom Dinnerladies, actress Maxine Peake will always be known as Twinkle the grumpy member of Victoria Wood's comedy catering team.

She talks to Steve Pratt about her passion for classical theatre.

MAXINE Peake is leading a double life, career-wise. While TV viewers know her from comedy roles in sitcoms such as Dinnerladies and Early Doors, her theatrical appearances are mostly in the classics. Last year, Yorkshire audiences saw her play Ophelia opposite Christopher Ecclestone's Hamlet at West Yorkshire Playhouse in Leeds. Now she's returning to the region next month - to York Theatre Royal - with Oxford Stage Company's revival of Serjeant Musgrave's Dance.

Naturally enough, it's as Twinkle from Dinnerladies that she gets recognised most often. Perhaps not so much these days as she has very short hair. "People say, 'are you Twinkle?'," she says. "I don't know whether they'll still be doing that in 20 years time."

Let's hope she doesn't meet one particular girl who was in the same class at school - she based Twinkle on her. "It was Victoria Wood's creation and she writes so well, but it was sort of based on someone in my class at school. I won't name names, although I don't think she'd recognise herself," says Peake.

"After Dinnerladies I got a lot of comedy offers and it's quite difficult to work on something else. Having had a script of that calibre, you get spoiled."

The first thing the Bolton-born actress did after bidding farewell to Twinkle was to head for the classics. She appeared in Ibsen's drama Miss Julie, also opposite Ecclestone, in London's West End, and followed that with more or less two years solid theatre work.

John Arden's anti-war parable Serjeant Musgrave's Dance hasn't been revived in a major production for nearly 20 years. A group of soldiers who arrive in a strike-torn Northern mining town appear to be recruiting, but gradually their strange mission is revealed.

Peake's character is a barmaid who's lost her fiancee in the war, and doesn't have much going for her.

The cast also includes Edward Peel, who played Station Office John Coleman in London's Burning, and Colin Tarrant, formerly Inspector Munroe in another ITV series, The Bill.

"I sort of knew of the play but had never read the piece. It's quite complicated, quite dense. You have to read it a few times before it all falls into place," she says.

Audiences have been responding well on the tour, and she reports full houses in Exeter the week before we spoke.

"I think the reason it's not been done for a while is that it has a large cast. There are 14 of us and, with finances being what they are, theatres can't afford so many people," she says.

"Stage classics are what I enjoy most. I end up doing sitcoms on the telly and my stage stuff is a bit different. But I do love theatre."

Hamlet marked her first foray into Shakespeare, which she found "quite exciting" and loved being at the Leeds theatre because it's part of the community.

Her acting ambitions were fostered at school, although she never thought she could do it for a living. "I was obsessed with comedy, like The Goodies, Marti Caine and Victoria Wood," she recalls. "I didn't know how you got into acting, but people encouraged me to try for drama school. Once I got going, I had the confidence."

Despite her love of the stage, being cast in Dinnerladies fulfilled one ambition. "I always wanted to be in a great sitcom, so when Dinnerladies came along I couldn't believe it," she says.

She's gone on to appear in another comedy series, Early Doors, with Royle Family star Craig Cash. This is currently being repeated on BBC2, with a second series likely next year. "It takes time for people to warm to the characters. Hopefully, people will take to it," she says. "We had such a giggle doing it. I'm looking forward to going back."

She's wary about admitting to any classical roles she has ambitions to play, although mentions Isabella in Shakespeare's Measure For Measure. "That's my big one, but I'm always frightened of saying what I would like to do in case you never do it," she adds.

After the Serjeant Musgrave's Dance tour ends next month she's content to be resting until early next year when she hopes Early Doors will begin recording again. "I'm quite happy to wait until then to work. I'm not panicking," she says.

* Serjeant Musgrave's Dance: York Theatre Royal, November 16-22. Box Office: (01904) 623568

Published: 30/10/2003